Do Advertisements Shape How We View Gender?

1303 words - 5 pages

Do Advertisements Shape How We View Gender?

Media is a powerful tool as most of the information that is transferred, shared or exchanged in the world happens via the media. One of its greatest purposes is advertising, which is a form of communication that is always intended to influence its viewers, listeners or readers to purchase a specific item, product or service as opposed to another. Even though many people don’t seem to realize it, advertisements, and especially television advertisements, are very powerful and are designed to affect our decisions (Schiffman 29). A lot of them use the power of sensualization because they know that sex sells; they try to convince the potential buyer or consumer that using a certain product or getting a certain service will make one more appealing and popular among her peers. This essay is going to discuss the issue of advertisements and how they view gender and affect people’s perceptions of either gender.
Advertising has a lot of advantages. It allows the advertiser the opportunity to inform its audience about his business, service or product while demonstrating the benefits of owning the product. Also on television, one is able to demonstrate how a product or service operates and is packaged so that the viewer will know exactly what to look for when deciding on the product or finding it in the market (Parker 123). Another advantage is that advertising through the media allows the advertiser to reach a much larger audience than he/she would if doing it by word of mouth and it enables him/her to achieve this faster. It allows him to reach all kinds of people from all walks of life; those who are known to him and especially those whom he doesn’t know and would not have an opportunity to inform, yet they would make very good clientele for his business.
When advertisements are aired on television or radio they’re usually during news or catchy shows and programs. This means that the potential client is very attentive when listening to the radio or watching TV, and when reading a newspaper or magazine, which is also another advertising tool that is very powerful. During this time all the attention is on a show and when an advertisement runs, the same attention is maintained hence successful receipt of the message. Lastly, advertising through media gives one an opportunity to be creative and give his or her business personality and an appeal that will draw customers to the business and maintain those that are already there.
Anything that has advantages must also have a down side, and advertising is no different. First and foremost production costs for running an advertisement, especially visual advertisements, is extremely high whether one decides to hire an advertisement agency to do all the work or sources for all the necessary equipment and people for himself.. That coupled with the amount needed for airtime, as an advertisement requires multiple runs makes advertisement cost a fortune either way...

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